


My Dog Will Always Come Through

by MoonCat457



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Auror Sirius Black, Community: hp_creatures, Crups (Harry Potter), Established Relationship, Established Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Fluff, HP CREATURES FEST 2020, HP Creature Fest 2020 - Quarantine Creature Comeback, Living Together, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Post-Hogwarts, Teacher Remus Lupin, The Marauders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26455759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonCat457/pseuds/MoonCat457
Summary: Seeing how happy James and Lily are now that they have baby Harry, Sirius wants to add to the family he and Remus have, too. So when Hagrid finds a litter of crup puppies abandoned in the Forbidden Forest, Sirius does his best to convince Remus that they should adopt one.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 22
Kudos: 139
Collections: Creature Fest 2020 - Quarantine Creature Comeback





	My Dog Will Always Come Through

**Author's Note:**

> Written for HP Creature Fest 2020.  
>   
> Prompt: S13 from 2017. Sirius really, really wants a crup.  
> Creature: Crup  
>   
> Title taken from [I Love My Dog by Cat Stevens](https://open.spotify.com/track/6jb2f8d6kbRkX7bfeR1bSn?si=0y4NhXvrRguhM-yhrb5ugQ).  
>   
> Thank you to my beta reader, Olivia Elena.

Lily stretched up onto her tiptoes to kiss Sirius’ cheek. “Get home safe, Siri.”

“I’ll see you Monday, mate,” James whispered to not wake up Harry, who was fast asleep on his chest.

“Thanks, Lilypad. Bye, Prongs,” Sirius said, smiling at them fondly. He crouched down by the armchair James was sitting in to press a kiss to the top of his godson’s head. “Sweet dreams, Prongslet.”

Sirius straightened up and let himself out of their house, tightening his leather jacket around him as he stepped out into the chilly night air. He wished he could wear his much warmer winter cloak, but Godric’s Hollow had a few Muggles living in it, so Muggle clothes it was. Checking down the street in both directions, he tightened his grip on his wand in his pocket, closed his eyes, and turned on his heel. There was the familiar squeeze and pull as he jolted through the air. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

Sirius kept his eyes closed for a moment as he waited for his brief nausea to pass. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in front of the small cottage in Hogsmeade that he and Remus called home ten months out of the year. He pulled his wand out and tapped it on the doorknob to unlock it. As he stepped through the door, a rush of warm air from the fireplace and the smell of bergamot and honey greeted him.

“Moons?” he called out over the faint sound of Cat Stevens coming from the record player in the bedroom. He didn’t get an answer, but he didn’t expect one. Cat Stevens was Remus’ marking music, which meant he was in his own little zone.

Sirius shucked his coat, hung it on the stand by the door, and kicked off his boots before padding into the kitchen. On the counter was a mug of Earl Grey tea next to a plate of fresh-made biscuits waiting for him. He smiled and popped a biscuit in his mouth before picking up the mug, still warm thanks to a warming charm, to head into the bedroom.

Remus sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard with his legs crisscrossed beneath him, surrounded by rolls of parchment. A bottle of green ink floated in mid-air next to him, within reach for him to re-wet his quill. Remus scowled at the essay in his lap and chewed on the end of his quill, which was the same shade of brilliant green as the ink. It was also the same shade of green as Remus’ eyes, which was the precise reason Sirius had bought them for Remus as a congratulations-on-surviving-your-first-year-of-teaching present last year.

Sirius leaned against the doorway and sipped his tea. “I didn’t think you’d beat me home,” he murmured, as to not startle his focused boyfriend.

Remus scratched a P into the top of the essay, blew on it to set the ink, then let the parchment roll up on its own. “I had to cancel the Dueling Club. Peeves flooded the Great Hall somehow,” he explained.

Sirius laughed and made his way to Remus’ side of the bed. “I never thought I’d hear you complaining about Peeves pulling pranks.”

Remus smirked. “Well, I’m a teacher now. I have to put my pranking years behind me.”

“You should have come with me to Lily’s and James’ then. Lily made pot pie,” he said, dropping a quick kiss to Remus’ lips.

Remus hummed and brought his hand to Sirius’ neck to keep him close for another, longer kiss. “You’d already left by the time I got back. Besides, I needed to catch up on some marking.”

Sirius brushed their noses together. “You work too hard,” he teased. He crossed over to the record player on the dresser and set the mug down to sift through their extensive record collection. “Can I change this?”

“Well, I’m going to assume you will not let me get any more marking done tonight, so yeah, go ahead.”

Sirius tossed a grin over his shoulder. “You assume right, my dearest Moony. It’s Friday night. If the kids aren’t thinking about schoolwork, you shouldn’t be.”

Remus rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same and waved his wand to move the rolls of parchment off the bed. The papers levitated and flew across the room, landing in a pile on the armchair. “So, how are James, Lily, and Harry?”

“Prongs and Lily are tired, but they seem so happy,” Sirius said with an air of wistfulness. He dropped the needle onto the vinyl, then climbed onto the bed and rested his head in Remus’ lap.

“The Who?” Remus asked, and Sirius nodded. “Has James decided when he’s going back to work?” Remus asked as he started carding his fingers through Sirius’ thick, shoulder-length black hair.

It was almost a reflex to him, something he’d started doing even before he and Sirius had gotten together toward the end of seventh-year. Just about every evening from around their third-year (when Sirius had begun growing his hair out) on, Sirius would plop onto the common room couch next to Remus and wedge his head onto Remus’ lap under whatever Muggle novel he was reading. After the initial surprise, Remus would continue reading. With his book propped up in front of his face with one hand, his other would gently card through Sirius’ hair, like Remus’ mother used to do to him when he was a child.

Sirius hummed and closed his eyes, letting himself enjoy the feeling for a moment before answering. “Yeah. He starts Auror retraining on Monday.”

“They’re making him go through training again?”

“Just a refresher course since he’s been out for nearly seven months. Then he’ll partner with Moody for six weeks since he’ll technically be a rookie again,” Sirius explained.

“You’re going to tease him mercilessly about that, aren’t you?”

Even though his eyes were closed, Sirius could tell Remus was smirking based on his voice. “I’ve got Lily making a ‘Welcome to the office, Rookie’ cake for his first day,” Sirius admitted.

Remus let out a surprised laugh. “Of course you got Lily in on it. And how’s Harry?”

“Oh, little Prongslet,” Sirius cooed, eliciting a soft chuckle from Remus. Sirius opened his eyes and beamed. “He’s a perfect little angel. He’s gotten so big, too.”

Remus smiled down at him and scratched Sirius’ scalp, just the way he liked.

Sirius sighed and let his eyes drift closed again. “They look so happy. Not that they weren’t happy before, Lily and James, I mean. But now that they’ve added to their little family, they look so much happier.”

Remus hummed in agreement, and they fell silent for a while as Sirius formulated his next sentence. He took a deep breath and chewed on his lip before batting his eyes open to stare up at Remus.

“What are you thinking about, love?” Remus asked. “You’ve got on your nervous question face.” He continued to massage Sirius’ scalp as he gently brought his free hand up to brush his thumb across Sirius’ lower lip, still trapped between his teeth.

Sirius released his lip from his teeth. “Have you ever thought about it?” he began cautiously. “Adding to our family, I mean.”

Remus’ hand stilled in Sirius’ hair. “Pads, I know you weren’t exactly paying attention during that uncomfortable lecture Minerva gave us about the birds and the bees in our fifth-year, but you do know that we’re lacking the necessary parts to make a child, right?”

Sirius let out a sudden bark-like laugh. “Merlin, please don’t remind me about that day. That was literally the most uncomfortable I think I’ve ever been.”

“And there’s not really any wizarding adoption agencies, and no one is going to be keen on letting two gay wizards adopt a muggle child,” Remus continued.

“Moons—”

“Especially not when one of them is a werewolf—”

“MOONS,” Sirius shouted, getting Remus to stop rambling. Sirius sat up and crossed his legs underneath him to face him. “I don’t want a baby. I’m perfectly content to be the cool uncle to little Prongslet.”

Remus’ shoulders relaxed, and he let out a little sigh. Sirius chuckled and leaned forward to kiss him softly. “So what are you going on about?” he asked.

“Well, I just started thinking, looking at how happy Lily, James, and Harry are,” Sirius began slowly, “I’ve always wanted a dog.”

Truthfully, Sirius had been thinking about talking to Remus about getting a pet for a long time. His visit to the Potters had just confirmed his desires.

“A dog?”

“Yeah! Wouldn’t you like to snuggle up in bed on a cold night with a fluffy dog to keep you warm?”

“Technically, I already have a dog that does that,” Remus said with a smirk.

“Oi! I don’t count, you wanker!” Sirius grabbed a pillow and hit him with it, ruffling the already messy tawny curls on his head. “I can’t snuggle with myself. Besides, I was talking with Hagrid, and he said that he found a litter of crup puppies—”

“Oh, so you don’t just want a dog, you want a crup?” Remus asked, mildly amused. “You know that those are Category XXX magical creatures, right? Same as fire crabs and red caps?”

“Yeah, but so are nifflers, and they’re basically harmless,” he said, waving a dismissive hand. “Yeah, I paid attention in Care of Magical Creatures, too.”

“Ok, but we’d still have to pass a test to make sure the crup won’t attack any Muggles and get a license—”

“Re, I work at the Ministry. I already talked to a guy in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures who owed me a favor, and he said he’d expedite processing our application—”

“You’ve been thinking about this for a while, haven’t you?”

Sirius froze, then nodded. “Ok, yes”—Remus sighed, but Sirius continued—“but I knew you’d try to come up with a bunch of counter questions, so I wanted to have all the answers.”

“Sirius,” Remus said with another sigh.

Sirius frowned. Remus almost never used his actual name.

“I’m just not sure—”

“But they’re puppies,” Sirius pleaded. “Hagrid found them abandoned in the Forbidden Forest. Their mom had just left them out there to die. She just kicked them out. Abandoned them. Their mom didn’t want them, Re.”

Remus gave him an exasperated look. “Are you actually playing the ‘My family disowned me’ card?”

“Is it working?” He did his best impersonation of Padfoot’s puppy dog pout. Usually, when he wanted to convince Remus of something, he would turn into Padfoot, but in this instance, he thought it best to stay in his human form.

Remus sighed exaggeratedly, then smiled. “I’ll think about it,” he said before shoving at the covers to climb under them.

“I know what that means, Remus. Don’t forget that I’ve known you for nearly twelve years," Sirius grumbled as he climbed off the bed to change into his pajamas.

It was Remus' turn to frown. Much like he hardly used Sirius' real name, Sirius rarely used Remus', only when he was upset. "Aww, love, come on," Remus said gently, extending his arm out and gesturing for Sirius to cuddle into his chest like he did every night.

Sirius sighed but complied as he crawled into bed. He nuzzled his face into the crook of Remus' neck and slid his cold hand under the hem of Remus' jumper.

"It's just that you kind of sprung this whole thing on me. It's a big decision, and I simply think that we should think about it for a little while."

"Except I know that when you say you're going to think about something, you've usually already made up your mind." Sirius propped himself up on an elbow to look at Remus. "Am I wrong?"

Remus hated disappointing him, he really did, but he was so nervous letting any living thing into his life, let alone one that couldn't protect itself. Then there was the fact that both of them had such demanding jobs, bringing a puppy into that— he just wasn't sure.

Sirius' face softened as he watched Remus chew on his bottom lip. "What is it, baby?"

"It's only— Well, haven't you ever noticed that most animals don't exactly react well around me? Best case, they're wary and won't come within five feet of me, and worst case, they can't run fast enough away from me. It's as if they can tell even when it's not a full moon that I'm a— I'm a predator to them."

"You're fine around owls, though. And that hippogriff in Care of Magical Creatures didn't seem very scared of you. So maybe a crup would be the same since they're inherently magical. It could just be non-magical animals that react that way," Sirius said hopefully. He leaned forward and kissed Remus' cheek gently. "I know you're scared, but you never know, right?"

Remus thought for a moment, then smiled softly and reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind Sirius' ear. "We can go look."

Sirius' face split into a wide grin. "Really? Are you sure? If you really don't think it's a good idea, we don't have to talk about it anymore. Because I am happy the way that we are, happier than I ever thought I could be—"

Remus cut him off with a quick kiss. "I'm sure. I mean, how can I say no when you've got that unbridled look of pure joy on your face?"

"I love you," Sirius said earnestly.

Remus smiled. "Love you, too."

🐶 🐶 🐶

Remus raised his right hand to knock on the door of Hagrid's hut, his other hand clasped tightly in Sirius. Sirius gave his hand a squeeze and a small smile just as the door opened.

"Remus! Sirius! Glad you could come!" Hagrid said jovially, clapping them both on the shoulder.

"Thanks for keeping the puppies on hold for us until we could come," Sirius said.

"O' course! Do you lads want to come in for a spot of tea first? Maybe some fruitcake? Just came out o' the oven."

Sirius gave a sideways glance at Remus, trying to hide the grimace on his face. Hagrid's fruitcake was notoriously hard as a rock, even right out of the oven. No one really knew how he managed it.

Remus glanced at him and nodded slightly, just enough for Sirius to see. "Uh, no, thank you, Hagrid. We— uh, we had a late breakfast."

"Ah, yes, maybe after then. So, the pups are just around the back." Hagrid gestured for them to lead the way, then he stepped out of the hut and shut the door behind him with a loud thump.

Sirius and Remus walked around the back of the hut to the small, fenced-in garden followed by Hagrid, who caught up to them quickly with his long strides. Remus squeezed Sirius' hand, then let go when they get to the gate. "You can go ahead first," he said quietly.

"You sure, Moons?" Sirius asked as Hagrid opened the gate.

He nodded tensely. "I don't want to scare them right away," he whispered.

Sirius gave him a sad look, but walked through the gate, followed by Hagrid.

"So there's nine of them in all," Remus heard Hagrid tell Sirius as he followed them at a distance. "I'm not sure exactly 'ow old they are, but I'd put 'em at ten or twelve weeks."

"How'd you find them exactly?" Sirius asked.

"Was walking 'round the forest, looking for one o' the thestrals that had gotten out o' the paddock when I found them curled up in a hollow collapsed tree trunk. Poor things were shivering and malnourished. Nursed 'em back to health though," Hagrid explained.

They stopped short where the puppies were sleeping in a basket lined with a plaid blanket, and Sirius instantly started cooing. "Aww, Re, look at them!" He turned around and looked around Hagrid's large frame at Remus, his silver eyes wide.

Remus nodded and smiled as Sirius turned back to the puppies and dropped to his knees. The puppies instantly swarmed him, hopping up onto his lap and pawing at his arms. They were small, only just bigger than baby Harry, and looked just like a Jack Russell Terrier, except for the forked tails. Sirius started to laugh, and he let the puppies knock him over into the grass.

"Don't you want to go say hello?" Hagrid asked Remus.

"Er," Remus stammered. He looked at Sirius, laughing on the ground as one of the puppies started to lick his face. He took a deep breath to steel his nerves, then took a few steps closer. The puppies instantly froze and began to whimper slightly. A few of the puppies started to back up, which stopped Remus in his tracks.

"That's odd. Never seen 'em do that before," Hagrid mused.

"I don't really have the best luck with animals," Remus said weakly. He pulled his jumper sleeves over his hands and fiddled with them.

Sirius sat up and looked at Remus, heartbroken over how dejected he looked. He turned back to the litter of puppies and smiled sadly at them. That's when he realized there were only eight of them. "Hagrid, didn't you say there were nine puppies?"

"Yeah, I did. The last one is a little shy. He's the runt o' them, and the others don't really welcome him in very often. Lemme see." Hagrid strode over to the basket the puppies were sleeping in before and picked up the last puppy. He was significantly smaller than the rest of them and seemed to be the calmest out of them all. "It's alright, buddy. Go and try to play with your siblings," he said in a low, rumbly voice to the puppy before setting him down.

Remus watched as the pup looked warily at his siblings and at Sirius. The puppy took a few tentative steps toward Sirius, who instantly reached out to pet him. He backed up just out of reach, then seemed to notice Remus for the first time. Remus braced himself for the shy dog to either cower or bolt back toward Hagrid, but neither happened. Instead, the tiny pup slowly padded over to Remus.

Remus held his breath and stayed as still as possible while the runt closed the distance between them, and he remained that way, even as the puppy started to sniff at his shoe. Remus looked up at Sirius, with wide eyes. Sirius nodded at him encouragingly. He let out the breath he'd been holding and slowly crouched down. The puppy backed up several steps and looked at Remus with wide, slightly terrified eyes.

Remus froze and looked back at Sirius. "What do I do?"

"Just let him come to you," Sirius told him.

Remus nodded and carefully sat on the ground, legs crisscrossed in front of him. He could feel his heart pounding loudly in his ear. There was a reason that crups were listed as a Category XXX magical creature; they could be vicious when provoked. So he waited, his hands out in what he hoped looked like a non-threatening pose.

The puppy stared at him for a moment, then took a few steps closer to sniff one of Remus' hands. Remus remained still, then, the puppy continued walking closer until he was at Remus' legs. He hopped up into Remus' lap and looked up at him expectantly, tail wagging slightly.

Remus wasn't sure what to do. He'd never been this close to an animal that wasn't at least a little afraid of him before. Maybe he could tell how terrified Remus actually was and identified with it? Regardless, here Remus was, sitting in Hagrid's garden with a tiny, nervous, and abandoned puppy sitting right in his lap un-coerced. He tentatively brought a hand to the puppy's head and scratched just behind the ears, like he did whenever Sirius was Padfoot. The puppy let out a contented little bark then rolled over to expose his belly.

Remus let out a watery laugh and rubbed the puppy's soft belly. He looked up at Sirius with tears in his eyes.

"I think he likes you, Moons," Sirius said, a broad smile on his face. He carefully crawled over and sat directly across from the two of them. "Are you alright?"

Remus nodded furiously. "I— Yeah. I've just never—hmph." He looked down at his lap and willed himself not to cry.

Sirius tentatively reached a hand out to let the puppy sniff, not wanting to ruin whatever magic was happening in front of him by moving too suddenly. The puppy flinched and burrowed closer into Remus' leg, seeking reassurance and comfort.

"It's ok, little guy," Remus cooed, scooping the puppy into his arms and cradling him to his chest. "Padfoot's another dog, just like you," he whispered so Hagrid wouldn't hear. Sirius was no longer an unregistered animagus, but he still kept it secret to protect Remus' secret since he was the reason Sirius had become an animagus, to begin with.

Sirius laughed lightly and reached out to try to stroke the dog's head again, successfully this time.

From behind Sirius, they heard a great, big sniff followed by a loud trumpet-like sound of Hagrid blowing his nose into a handkerchief. "So beautiful," he sobbed as he watched the scene.

Sirius smiled. "So, what are you thinking, baby?"

Remus looked up from the now sleeping puppy in his arms. "Can we get him?"

On any other day, Sirius would be teasing Remus about how the tables had turned with Remus asking to get a dog rather than Sirius, but he can't bring himself to. He's too full of warmth and love for his boyfriend— his partner— and their new dog. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against Remus' before turning to look at Hagrid. "We'll take him."

Hagrid nodded and grinned broadly. "Whatcha gonna name the little fella?"

"Moons?" Sirius asked.

Remus shook his head. "You pick."

"Snuffles?" Sirius suggested, picking the rejected nickname James had tried to give Sirius when they'd realized his animagus form was a dog.

Remus laughed loudly, waking the sleeping pup in his arms with a jolt. He nuzzled into the top of the pup's head. "Sorry, little guy," he murmured.

Sirius smiled and brought his face within a few inches of the puppy's. "What do you think? Snuffles?"

The puppy stared at Sirius for a moment, then lept forward and licked his face.

"I think that's a yes," Remus said, amused.

Sirius stole the puppy out of Remus' arms and held him up at eye level. "Snuffles it is then." He cradled the puppy in his arms and gave it a squeeze. "Hagrid, do you have leads on homes for the others?"

"The Weasley's are coming by to take a look soon. The Prewett twins, Longbottom's, and Marlene McKinnon have all expressed interest, too. Are you lads ready to take him home today, or do you need to get supplies?" Hagrid asked.

"We've got supplies," Remus said. Technically they were for Padfoot, but the two could share.

Just then, there was a shout coming from the hill leading down to Hagrid's hut. They all turned to look and watched as a tall red-headed figure chased after two much smaller red-heads.

"That'll be the Weasley's," Hagrid said. "I'll let you two take care o' the severing charm for the little fella's tail. It'll be best not to wait too long; otherwise, it might traumatize him."

Sirius nodded. "Thanks, Hagrid," he said, and, with that, Hagrid strode over to the gate so he could greet the Weasley family.

Sirius put Snuffles down so he could stand up, and Remus instantly scooped the puppy back up into his arms before standing up, too. Sirius chuckled and wrapped an arm around Remus' waist. "Going to carry him all the way back?"

"He's got such little legs, and we don't have a leash with us," Remus said defensively.

Sirius chuckled again and pressed a kiss to the top of Remus' head. "You're going to end up loving that dog more than me, huh?"

Remus nuzzled the top of Snuffles' head. "Maybe," he teased.

Sirius tossed his head back and laughed. "I can't even be mad about that."

Remus laughed, too, then leaned up to press a lingering kiss to Sirius' cheek. "Don't worry, love. I'm only joking. You'll always hold the number one dog spot in my heart."

"Good," Sirius said with a cheeky grin. "Now, come on. Let's take our new fur-child home."


End file.
